Using a very high-tech “clap-o-meter” system, judges and audience members debated the various entries to the green gadgets competition, and then selected winners through volume of cheers and claps. Panelist/judges included Ryan Block from Engadget, Valerie Casey of IDEO & The Designers Accord, and me, Jill Fehrenbacher. We’d like to thank everyone who entered, and congratulations to the winners… (read on to see the winning entries!)

FULL-LENGTH 30 MINUTE VERSION

If you watched the short video at the top and decide you can’t get enough, we have the full-length version of the 30 minute presentation available directly below to watch as well. In the full-length version you’ll see all the weird and wonderful designs that were cut out of the overview, so check it out here.

AND THE WINNERS ARE…

FIRST PRIZE WINNER FOR $2500 – The EnerJar DIY Energy Meter Kit
Designed by Matt Meshulam and Zach Dwiel

This little downloadable DIY kit uses household materials to monitor and measure the energy output of a variety of everyday devices, allowing the user to take personal responsibility over energy use.

SECOND PLACE WINNER FOR $1000 – The Gravity Based Kinetic Energy Lamp – Gravia
Designed by Clay Moulton

Reminiscent of a grandfather clock, this gorgeous floor lamp uses the weight of a hefty component to kinetically power itself.

THIRD PLACE WINNER FOR $1000 – Green Cell Universal Battery Sold in Vending Machines
Designed by Theo Richardson

This little universal rechargable green battery would fit in every device known to man (allowing you to throw away that growing charger collection), and would allow users to charge and swap batteries in vending machines all over- providing an eco alternative to crappy Duracells and proprietary batteries.

OTHER FINALISTS OF NOTE

Kinetic Swivel-Powered Bamboo Phone (Jill’s personal favorite)
A bamboo phone powered simply by the kinetics of its own pivoting? Does it get better than this?

Computer Off Button
Okay, so our computers already have on/off switches, but the prominence and sleek design of this uber-button certainly makes energy usage more obvious.

THE INFINIT-E Stretchy Kinetic Energy Charger
This one might be more conceptual than manufacturable, but we love the idea that elasticity could provide power.

LEAVE A COMMENT

19 thoughts on “GREENER GADGETS WINNERS ANNOUNCED!”

Hi I have always saved junk and made it into other things, but I know it has not always been the greenist way , but I,m getting much better. Is there a place that a person can buy these items? Such as the laptop.
Thank you
Deb in Alaska

I am not so sure that the lamp is such an "out there" idea. I think that 4 hours of power may be a bit much to ask for, but how often do we use a light for 4 whole hours. I think that with today's decreased power demands on light bulbs, that we should be able to get something similar to this to work using a system of springs like a clock to conserve energy fed into the system by gravity. The gear reduction would probably be huge!
definite problems to overcome, but perhaps one of the coolest entries with the most potential for change.
zach @ pennywise-poundfoolish.typepad.com

[...] phone, by Dutch designer Gert-Jan van Breugel was one of the finalists shortlisted at this year’s 2008 Greener Gadgets Design Competition (and Jill’s personal favorite). Although this design didn’t end up winning one of the [...]

[...] phone, by Dutch designer Gert-Jan van Breugel was one of the finalists shortlisted at this year’s 2008 Greener Gadgets Design Competition (and Jill’s personal favorite). Although this design didn’t end up winning one of the [...]

I too was excited about the lamp until I bothered to do the calculations. Now I'm pretty upset that this guy won. I think if we don't take this seriously it detracts from the overall effort to produce green technology. By my calculations you would need something around an eight metric ton weight to make this work. With ideas like this you're not going to be taken seriously.

I can explain the 11-year-old's entry, being her dad and all. It tried to be many things, but I think the core idea was to monitor the environment for toxins and then map the results out on a built-in GPS. It also was designed to incorporate algae as part of the display, and circulate air through them to purify a small amount of air as it is used. And it was supposed to generate its own electricity by shaking it or pulling a cord. But the environmental mapping was the key.

I hate to be a naysaer but... someone should point out that the Gravia floor lamp would not work. The amount of energy stored by raising a mass is very little and even if there was a 100% efficient generator it would probably only power an LED lamp for a couple of minutes. If you want the math: potential energy of a mass in Joules = m*g*h where m= mass in kg, g = acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s^2) and h = height raised in meters. So even if you hauled a massive 100 kg weight (over 200 pounds!) to 2 meters you'd get only 2000 Joules of energy as it descends (and it would take that much to raise it). At super efficient white LED gives around 100 Lumens per Watt of electrical input (depending on color), so to get 600-800 lumens would require at least 5 Watts and 5Watts is 5 Joules per second so 2000 Joules gives you 2000/5 or 400 seconds worth of light - less than 7 minutes. And that assumes a 100 efficient generator whereas you'd probably be looking at more like 50% efficiency so you'd be down to about a couple of minues and all this is with a super heavy weight that would probably require a big winch to raise.
I would propose they investigate a system that instead uses a compressed gas or a spring - but then the mechanics of the thing would require a very strong shell. Alternatively they could try winding up a huge rubber band and spinning the weight - I haven't done the math on whether that would work though.
And PS - I know these are just ideas and I love the ideas in principle.

My fav is the green cell universal rechargeable battery. I am assuming, though, that there would be a universal charger for the universal batteries so that you would have the option to charge at home vs. use a vending machine every time.
Why isn't this possible? I can see that a single size/type might not work for everything, but couldn't the zillion we have now be reduced to just a few sizes and types? Manufacturers would not want to make the change, that's for sure, but with enough political push, talk of "green washing", media coverage, they would be shamed into phasing them in.
I say we go for it!